DESSERTS

These coconut cuties are such a Cuban treat. First of all, we LOVE coconut, so of course, we would make these. They are called coquito in Spanish (little coconut). Puerto Ricans also have a sweet treat called coquito, but in their case, it’s a holiday egg nog made with coconut milk… also great and worthy of its own post. But for today, let’s discuss these super quick and easy coconut balls. 

3-Ingredient Coconut Balls 

Don’t you just love when a cookie is so easy, carefree, and gorgeous? These coconut balls are just three ingredients: shredded coconut, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla. And you don’t even need a mixer! Just mix the three ingredients with a spoon or hands (hands are the best kitchen tool ever!). Then roll into a ball and bake them for about 15 minutes or until golden… and you’re done. Let them cool before you handle, though. If you move them while they’re warm, they are likely to fall apart, and then you’ll have to eat the crumbs. Well, maybe move one or two! 😉

Let me just say a quick word about sweetened condensed milk here because it’s a staple in every Cuban kitchen. We use it in lots of Cuban desserts like caramel flan, drizzle it on churros or eat a spoonful to satisfy a sweet tooth. Don’t judge. 

Let’s Play Dress-Up With These Coconut Balls!

These coconut balls are good without any makeup. If you’re a coconut fan, you’ll love them just as they are. But if you’re a Mounds fan, you’ll love them dipped in chocolate with a little coconut sprinkle. Or, for the Almond Joy nuts out there, sprinkle some chopped almonds. Oh, yea! 

To make the chocolate easy to work with, I suggest you buy chocolate wafers that have already been tempered. I used Ghirardelli dark chocolate wafers, and it was easy to melt, hardened quickly, and looked glossy. 

These cookies make for a great holiday gift for teachers, co-workers, or neighbors. I like to make them for my hubby because he’s cuckoo for coconuts (ugh, that’s a seventies Cocoa Puffs commercial reference you probably won’t get!).

Anyways try these adorable little coconut balls and share your creations in the comments. I’d love to see how they turn out! 

Coconut Balls Are A Delicious Cuban Sweet Treat

• Author: Sandi Abbott
• Prep Time: 15
• Cook Time: 17
• Total Time: 32 minutes
• Yield: 28 1x
• Category: cookies
• Method: baking
• Cuisine: cuban

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Description

I love how quick and easy these coconut balls are to make. You need just three ingredients: shredded coconut, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. And you don’t even need a mixer. Just mix the coconut, milk and vanilla and shape into balls.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

14 ounces shredded unsweetened coconut (see note)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Optional:

5 ounces dark chocolate melting wafers (I used Ghirardelli)

½ cup chopped, toasted almonds

½ cup shredded coconut

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

• Add the finely shredded coconut, can of condensed milk and vanilla in a bowl and mix until well blended.
• Take a heaping tablespoon (I used a 1 ½ tablespoon scoop) and shape into a ball. If your hands get sticky, just dip in a bowl of water, it makes the work less sticky.
• Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until golden. (Time may vary based on your oven and the size of the coconut balls.)

Optional Decoration:

• Melt 5 ounces of melting wafers in a small bowl. Place the almonds and/or the coconut flakes in separate bowls. Once the cookies have completely cooled, dip the top in chocolate and then dip in the coconut or chocolate. If you want to add just a little bit of the coconut or almonds, just sprinkle a few on top of the melted chocolate instead.
• Place in the refrigerator until the chocolate is hardened.
• These coconut balls are super easy to make! They take very little time and effort and are great for a holiday party table or holiday gifts.

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Notes

Use a finely shredded unsweetened coconut. If you can’t find it, just pulse the coconut shreds in a food processor until it’s finely shredded.

Calories do not include the chocolate or the toppings.

Keywords: coconut balls, chocolate coconut balls, 3 ingredient coconut balls, Coconut balls condensed milk

Pumpkin flan combines the creamy, lusciousness of caramel flan with the earthy goodness of pumpkin for the perfect fall dessert. This flan is super easy to make and looks very impressive, especially if you add a little caramel decoration to it. I also found some super cute chocolate pumpkins for a little extra drama. 

While our love affair with pumpkins has deepened in recent years, especially with the advent of the pumpkin spice latte, Cubans have been making this pumpkin flan since way before PSL was even a thing. I remember my mom making this flan when I was eight, and I loved it way back then. It’s so creamy and pumpkiny, you’re tastebuds will thank me!

Fresh Pumpkin Mash

I tried different combinations of ingredients, and in the end, I settled on Mami’s version, which uses a caramel flan recipe with one and half cups of fresh pumpkin mash. I like this version best because the end result is a Cuban dessert that is luscious, creamy, and beautiful to look at. 

Caramel flan is super easy to make and has just five ingredients that turn out a spectacular Cuban dessert with a decadent caramel sauce. The ingredients include sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, vanilla and eggs. This pumpkin flan also has caramel sauce AND a great pumpkin flavor. 

Although fresh pumpkin adds a bit of work to the process, I liked it better than using canned pumpkin because it gives the flan a silky, light flavor and beautifully creamy color.

If you want to save a little time, you can use the canned pumpkin. Your flan will have a deeper color and a more robust pumpkin pie flavor, especially if you add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the mix. But I gotta tell you I didn’t like this as much. The flan came out too dark and too much like pumpkin pie. I wanted it to taste more like flan. 

Pumpkin Flan Is Not Like Pumpkin Pie

I feel like I have to say this right off the bat because I struggled with this issue. To be honest, I hadn’t had pumpkin flan in years. I’d never made it myself, and Mami (aka Beantrain) hadn’t made it in quite a while, although I’d been pestering her for one.

So, the pumpkin dessert my tastebuds were familiar with was pumpkin pie, which has a deep, rich, and spicy pumpkin flavor. I expected that flavor with a little extra lusciousness thrown in, but it was not like that. Flan has a more delicate taste and color.

At first, I wanted my flan to have a more robust pumpkin flavor laced with pumpkin spice. But I changed my mind after trying different variations. I found out that the closer I moved to the pumpkin pie flavor, the less it looked and tasted like flan. The color was much darker and the texture was not as smooth and creamy. So, I’m gonna let flan be flan and not put it through an identity crisis.

How To Make Pumpkin Flan

Flan is baked in a water bath known as the Bain Marie method. You place the flan in a roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with water. You can also make the flan in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot using a special flan mold. You still have to add the water, but it’s a bit quicker and easier than baking. However, I couldn’t do this with the pumpkin flan. 

The reason for this is that the pumpkin adds more volume to the recipe, so the mix is too much for the flan mold (the molds have to be small enough to fit inside the pressure cooker). I tried anyway. I filled the mold to the top, put on the lid, and set it in the pressure cooker. The flan didn’t have enough room to cook and spilled out and became a watery mess. However Mami’s flan mold is a little bigger the oven.

This way, you can use any mold you like. You can use the flan mold, a cake pan, a pie plate or ramekins. I did not make mine in ramekins, but if you go this route, you’ll likely need 12 ramekins. Also, keep in mind that different mold sizes could impact the cooking time. 

Caramel Decorations

This pumpkin flan has a delicious caramel sauce that’s just cooked sugar. As you heat up the sugar, it forms a thick syrup that quickly hardens. This caramel sauce is used to coat the flan mold before you add the flan mix. As the flan bakes, some of the caramel dissolves and becomes a fantastic caramel sauce. This is what makes flan so amazing!

I use about a cup of sugar for the pumpkin flan. But you can use a little extra sugar and create some decorative swirls with the hardening caramel that you can use as decoration. I even made a little basket to hold my chocolate pumpkins!

Looking to make a different pumpkin dessert for Thanksgiving? Give this pumpkin flan a try! Also, when you’re not in the pumpkin mode (is that even possible?) try my caramel flan, it’s the #1 Cuban dessert 🥰🍮

Pumpkin Flan Is Such An Easy Fall Dessert!

• Author: Sandi Abbott
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 120 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
• Yield: 8 1x
• Category: dessert
• Method: baking
• Cuisine: Cuban

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Description

Pumpkin flan combines the creamy, lusciousness of caramel flan with fresh pumpkin for the perfect fall dessert!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

1 pound fresh pumpkin to make 1 1/2 cups pumpkin mash ** See note

1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces)

1 can evaporated milk (12 ounces)

5 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

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Instructions

Make the Pumpkin Mash:

If you’re using fresh pumpkin, peel and cut the pumpkin into one-inch chunks. The pumpkin skin is hard to peel, but it’s easier to peel if you cut the pumpkin into strips first. Boil until fork tender and mash, about 15 minutes.

Make the caramel: While the pumpkin is cooking, prepare the caramel. 

• Place 1 cup of sugar in a medium saucepan on medium high heat. Cook until sugar melts and has a deep amber color. You can swirl the pan to help the sugar dissolve, but don’t stir it. This should take about 12-14 minutes. 
• Pour the caramel into the flan mold and swirl the mold a bit to get it up the sides a little. You need to work fast because the caramel hardens quickly, BUT be very careful not to spill the caramel or to touch the pie plate or cake pan where the caramel will be because it will burn you. I cannot stress this enough. USE MITTENS, THE CARAMEL IS VERY HOT AND CAN BURN YOU.

• If you want to make some caramel decorations, you can heat up 1 1/2 cups of sugar and reserve some of the caramel to make decorations. In that case, pour about 2/3 of caramel in the flan mold. Then use a  metal spoon to spoon out some of the caramel into a parchment to create different shapes. You can also pour it over an inverted, greased bowl to create a basket like the one I made. The shapes don’t have to be perfect, they will look great either way!
• You can use different molds for the flan. I used a small, round flan mold. But you can use a pie plate, a regular cake pan or ramekins affiliate link. The size of the mold will impact the baking time. 
• Make sure to use a metal spoon for the caramel because the caramel is so hot it will melt a plastic spoon (caramel is serious business!).

Preheat: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. 

Mix: Pour 1 1/2 cups mashed pumpkin, the cans of evaporated and sweetened condensed milk into a blender. Add the five eggs, a teaspoon of vanilla and a pinch of salt. Blend on low for about 30 seconds. 

Strain: 

• You need to strain the mix to make sure no eggshell or solids end up in your flan. The easier way to do this is to hold a strainer over the flan container and pour the mix over the strainer.

Bain-marie:  

• Your flan container will cook in a water bath. Place your flan container (ramekins, pie plate or cake pan) in a large roasting pan with deep sides and fill the roasting pan with enough water to go halfway up the side of the container. 
• For the ramekins, bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes. You want the edges to be set and the middle to jiggle just a bit. The top should be a pale gold.
• For the pie plate or cake pan, cook for about 1 hour or until the edges are set and the middle jiggles just a bit. 
• The flan mold I used cooked for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, so you need to check it as it cooks. 

Chill: Remove the flan from the water bath and let it come to room temperature. Then chill it in the refrigerator overnight. To serve, run a paring knife around the edge to loosen and then invert in a cake plate. 

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Notes

You really need about 13 ounces of pumpkin but the skin adds a bit of weight so you need to buy about a pound of pumpkin.

If you don’t want to make the fresh pumpkin mash, you can use canned pumpkin. Keep in mind that canned pumpkins will make the flan darker in color and the taste will be a bit more like pumpkin pie. 

The pan and the flan mold affiliate link will end up with hard caramel stuck to it. To clean it, just soak the pan and the sugar will dissolve. Then it’s a breeze to clean.

Keywords: pumpkin flan, cuban pumpkin flan, easy pumpkin flan recipe, pumpkin flan recipe, fall desserts, great pumpkin dessert, pumpkin dessert ideas

Cuban flan is, hands-down, the most popular Cuban dessert, and for a good reason. It’s a luscious, creamy, special-occasion-worthy dessert that is super easy to make. This is the dessert that’s on every Cuban table on Christmas Eve (Noche Buena). 

This is my Cuban mom’s flan recipe, and she makes it often. With my mom (aka the Bean Train), if you’re sick you get chicken noodle soup, and for all other occasions, you get a Cuban flan. If it’s your birthday, you get a flan, if it’s your anniversary, you get a flan, and if she’s coming over for dinner… another flan! All her neighbors get this Cuban dessert for Christmas, and I’ve got to tell you, it’s made her pretty popular on her block!

What Is Flan?

If you’re not familiar with it, caramel flan is a creamy dessert made with two types of milk, eggs, and vanilla and has a delicious caramel sauce made with sugar. It’s like Crème Brulee but it does not have the hard sugar crust on top. The caramel is baked with the dessert and becomes this rich sauce that bathes the creamy dessert in delicious sweetness. It’s so, so good, I can’t wait for you to try it! Of all the Cuban recipes you can make, this Cuban flan recipe is the one to try first!!

Cuban Flan Recipe

As I said, this caramel flan is super easy to make. You don’t need to mix anything and there are only five flan ingredients in this Cuban flan recipe: sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, eggs, vanilla, and salt. You can mix these ingredients by hand or just throw them in the blender for 30 seconds. 

I like to use vanilla paste because I think it gives your baked goods a richer taste, but regular vanilla is fine. When you use the paste, you get more of the vanilla beans in the dish. You’ll notice it in the sliced flan. Sometimes it may leave a mark on the surface of the cake as the beans settle to the bottom of the flan and then when you invert it, you’ll see it. I usually garnish my flan with some raspberries so it’s not noticeable, but you can see it a bit in the sliced flan photo in this post.

The caramel is also super easy to make, as it’s just melted sugar. Some folks like to mix water and sugar and heat this on medium heat until the caramel forms. But I find this method takes longer and you must be careful to not overcook the caramel. It’s much easier to melt a cup of sugar over medium high heat. Once all the sugar has melted, you’re at the right caramel color and it takes a fraction of the time. 

Two things you need to know about caramel… don’t stir the caramel in the pan. That will keep it from forming. You just shake the pan a little to swirl the sugar as it’s melting. Also, the caramel is SUPER HOT and can burn you if you’re not careful. Don’t use plastic spoons or other plastic utensils near it and be SUPER CAREFUL when pouring it in the mold. 

How To Make Cuban Flan

Caramel flan cooks in the oven in a water bath called a bain-marie. You can pour the flan in half-cup ramekins for individual portions or bake in a pie plate or cake pan. You need to make sure to pour enough water to reach about halfway up the sides of the flan mold. 

Baking times will vary depending on the container you use. Ramekins take under 30 minutes the pie plate or cake pan make take you around an hour of baking time.  

Once they’re done, let them cool at room temperature and then place them in the fridge for four hours or overnight. Run a sharp knife around the edge to invert it on a plate and give it a light tap.

If you baked it in one pie plate or cake pan, the weight of the flan will make it easy to unmold. If you used the individual ramekins, you need to have a little patience or gently coax it out with the edge of the knife, but be careful not to mar the smooth surface of the flan. 

Once you’ve unmolded the flan, pour the rest of the caramel sauce over the flan and garnish it with a few raspberries and a mint leaf. 

Instant Pot Flan

You can also cook the flan in the Instant Pot. You’re still using the bain-marie method, though. To be able to cook it in the Instant Pot you’ll need a flan mold with a lid called a “flanera.” You can find these at many supermarkets. I bought mine at my local CVS pharmacy that sells some Latin cookware (yea, I know, only in Miami!). You can also find these on Amazon.

Instant pot flan cooks in just 25 minutes, but there’s the time it takes for the Instant Pot to develop pressure and then you need to give a few minutes to release the steam before you open it.

The flan mold creates a nice, tall cake. I personally like this method because it’s so foolproof. You don’t have to check the flans for doneness. This also gives you better portion control so you can cut smaller slices if you have more people. 

But I do love the way the individual caramel flans look, they are so cute!

Try this Cuban flan recipe the next time you’re thinking of baking a cake for a special occasion. Or make it just because you want to indulge. You can’t beat how easy this Cuban recipe is to make!

Caramel Flan – Traditional Cuban Dessert

• Author: Sandi Abbott
• Prep Time: 20
• Cook Time: 60
• Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
• Yield: 8 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Method: Baking or Instant Pot
• Cuisine: Cuban

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Description

This caramel flan is a very traditional Cuban dessert. It’s a luscious, creamy special-occasion-worthy dessert that is super easy to do. What makes this dessert so awesome is the fantastic one-ingredient caramel sauce. And this Cuban flan recipe could not be easier to make!

 

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces)

1 can evaporated milk (12 ounces)

5 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

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Instructions

Make the caramel:

• Place 1 cup of sugar in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Cook without stirring until sugar melts and has a deep amber color. This should take about 12-14 minutes. Be very, very careful with the flan as it’s SUPER HOT and can burn you. 
• For Ramekins: Use a regular soup spoon and divide the caramel equally into 8 half-cup ramekins.  Do not use a plastic measuring spoon for this because it will melt. Swirl the caramel around the ramekin to coat the sides just a bit. 
• For pie plate, cake pan or flan mold: Pour all the caramel and swirl the pan a bit to get it up the sides a little. You need to work fast because the caramel hardens quickly, BUT be very careful not to spill the caramel or to touch the pie plate or cake pan where the caramel will be because it will burn you. I cannot stress this enough.
• Once the caramel has hardened, brush a little vegetable oil on the exposed areas that don’t have caramel. This should make it easier to unmold the flan later. 

Preheat: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, if you’re baking. 

Mix: Pour the cans of milk into a blender. Add the five eggs, a teaspoon of vanilla and a pinch of salt. Blend on low for about 30 seconds. 

Bain-marie: Place your flan container (ramekins, pie plate or cake pan) in a large roasting pan with deep sides and fill the pan with water up to halfway mark on the container. If you’re using the Instant Pot, you’ll add the water last. 

Strain: 

• Strain the mix to make sure no eggshell or solids end up in your flan. 
• For the ramekins, strain the flan into a 4-cup measuring bowl or pitcher. This will make it easier to pour into the ramekins. Otherwise, you can ladle the mix up to 4-ounce measurement or just up to the indent area. You can see it in the photo above in the post. 
• If you’re using a pie plate, cake pan or flan mold, you can strain the mix right into the container. 

Bake:

• Baking times differ based on the container that you use. 
• For the ramekins, bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes. You want the edges to be set and the middle to jiggle just a bit. The top should be a pale gold.
• For the pie plate or cake pan, cook for about 1 hour or until the edges are set and the middle jiggles just a bit. 

Instant Pot affiliate link or Pressure Cooker:

For the Instant Pot, you’ll need to use a special flan mold affiliate link. Place the covered flan mold in the pot and add water until it’s half way up the sides of the flan mold. Set the timer to 25 minutes at normal pressure. Once done, let it vent on its own. If you’re not going to let it vent on its own, cook for 30 minutes. 

Cool: Let the flan come to room temperature and then cool in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.

Unmold:

• Run a sharp paring knife around the edge and then invert the container onto a plate. The large molds unmold easily because the weight of the flan helps. 
• For the ramekins, it’s a little more difficult. I usually  place the ramekins in a pan with warm water for 30 seconds to make it easier to unmold. Sometimes you need to nudge it a little with the knife, but be careful not to leave a mark on the flan. They look so pretty when they’re unmolded. 
• Pour the rest of the caramel sauce over the flan on the plate. 

Garnish (optional): Top the flan with a few raspberries. I also use a mint leaf on the individual portions. 

 

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Equipment

ramekins

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flan mold

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Instant Pot

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Notes

The caramel will baked onto the flan mold affiliate link or ramekins affiliate link and it looks impossible to remove. But just soak the container in water and the sugar will dissolve. 

Nutrition

• Serving Size: slice

Keywords: caramel flan, Cuban dessert, flan, flan recipe, easy flan recipe, Instant Pot flan, flan ingredients, Cuban flan, Cuban flan recipe